


When It's Ajar

by isaaclakey



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, M/M, Transgender
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 05:21:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1928145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isaaclakey/pseuds/isaaclakey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott's away all Junior year, and Stiles is left all alone with his secret. Isaac is always alone. When they become lab partners, what turn will underdeveloped friendship take?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Stiles and Isaac have known each other for quite some time now, though neither of them would consider them to be involved in any sort of relationship of actually knowing each other.

Stiles knows Isaac’s last name is Lahey, that his dad abused him and is dead, that Isaac lives with Scott - well, resides in the McCall guest bedroom - and, obviously, that Isaac is a werewolf. Yes, knowledge of Isaac’s father may be a bit, er, personal, if you will, but that is simply on a need-to-know basis of Scott’s pack.

Isaac knows that Stiles’ name isn’t actually Stiles, and that it’s a nickname pulled out of his last name, resulting from what Isaac’s assumed is an extravagant and complicated first name that he was born with. Isaac knows that Stiles is one hundred percent human, and a sweaty one, thanks to his supernatural smelling abilities. He knows his dad is a sheriff, and that Stiles is one spaztastic son of a bitch.

But what neither of them know is how to get by in an entire school year without Scott. Scott’s father, with his feeble attempt of becoming apart of his son’s life after God knows how many years, had an agreement with Melissa. This particular agreement included Scott going to school in San Francisco, living with his father, for Junior year. He was told that he could come back to Beacon Hills at any time during the school year if he wanted to come back before Senior year, but, knowing Scott, who wants to make everyone happy but himself, is staying for the entire school year - with the exception of Spring Break and Holiday Break and whatever other break from school the universe grants them with this year.

Now, I know what you’re thinking - hopefully, otherwise I’d be making a fool of myself as your narrator, which just sounds remarkably silly when I think about it - where is Isaac going to live? Ah, ah, ah, not with Stiles. He will remain in the McCall guest bedroom for this school year, just him and Melissa, which, yeah, sounds like it’s guaranteed to be awkward, but isn’t everything when you’re 16, going on 17?

\-----

Stiles tugs the keys out of his Jeep once he’s settled into a parking place designated for Beacon Hills students, adjusting his rearview mirror so he meets his own eyes. He does a quick scan of his face, making sure his necessities are taken care of. No eye crusties? Check. He bares his teeth, checking for any sign of his strawberry Poptart from breakfast. Check. He then leans his head back and flares his nostrils. No bats in the cave, and we’re set to go. He grabs his backpack from the passenger seat and braces himself for his first day of Junior year.

As he walked up the steps to the main doors alone, he felt his left back pocket for his schedule, which he spent all his time memorizing as soon as he got it, but, just in case, right? He tries to shake off the feeling of lonesomeness that has been following him around since he said goodbye to Scott a week earlier. How could he seriously just leave everyone here? he thought to himself. I mean, after all, he does have a pack to tend to. But Stiles isn’t Scott, so he stops trying to work his brain as if he was Scott, for the time being.

After walking up to his locker and dealing with the whole shabang of backpack emptying, he heads on to his first class, thinking how great it is that he doesn’t have gym this year, and how anxious it used to make him. 

There is absolutely no one in his Algebra II class that he deems worth talking to, and after listening to the teacher go over the typical first day information - rules, supplies needed for this class, what units they’ll be covering, etc. - the bell rings after what felt like an eternity and he heads on to Chemistry. 

That’s when it hits him.

Who is going to be his lab partner? He grinds his teeth at the thought of having no one, being looked at with disgust and walked past to choose anyone but him. He walks in to Chemistry and, lo and behold, miracle upon miracles, there is Isaac Lahey, sitting in a chair that looks oddly small for him, hunching his shoulders in, as if to make himself look smaller, make himself unseen.

Stiles walks over and sits behind him, not next to him, because he doesn’t want to scare Isaac away and come on too strongly to him, seeing as they aren’t exactly the best of friends. This teacher, thank God, has written everything he would like the students to know on the board, some of that information being to choose a lab partner and write your last names against each other in his book, so he can keep track of who’s partners with who.

After about five minutes of staring at the back of Isaac’s head and waiting for him to turn around, get up , do something, he begins shaking his right leg. Just seeing Isaac’s stillness makes him squirm. Who can keep that still? After about two minutes into that, Stiles decides that maybe he should try something, make the first move, you know.

Tapping Isaac on the shoulder and foreseeing his utmost humiliation as Isaac turns around to see him, Stiles simply says, “Hey, Isaac, do you have a lab partner yet?”

Trick question, he knows he doesn’t, and Isaac knows Stiles knows that he doesn’t, and Stiles knows that Isaac knows that Stiles knows he doesn’t, and Isaac truthfully informs him that no, he does not have a lab partner, and Stiles lets him know that he’d gladly fill that place, and it’s settled, because Stiles is already walking to the teacher’s desk as Isaac nods in an agreeing manner.

Stiles scrawls quickly in his sloppy, slanted writing, “Lahey/Stilinski”.

Isaac nods his head silently, and Stiles spends the rest of the class staring at the back of Isaac’s head, noticing how beautiful his hair is, while Isaac sits in front of him, staring into nothing.

The rest of the day slugs by, with Stiles eating lunch in the bathroom. Well, I suppose you could call the food Beacon Hills High School serves for lunch, but I don’t think that term fits it very well. Stiles promises himself to try and bring lunch to school, even though he knows he’ll forget.

\-----

Stiles finally stumbles through the front door of his house after a long, boring day. He heads straight for the kitchen. He goes through the fridge, finding absolutely nothing good in there, and then heads for the pantry. He snags a bag of salt and vinegar chips and a box of Girl Scout cookies, and hums happily to himself as he makes his way up to his room.

He slings his backpack across the room, and tosses the goodies onto his bed. He rips off his shirt - which he had been sweating through all day - to reveal his torso, which holds a secret only his father, Scott’s mother, and Scott know about.

See, Stiles is transgender. That means that he was born with the body of a female, but he’s a male. He wrinkles his nose at what he sees in the mirror, wishing it was someone that looked like a man. He adjusts his binder a bit - which is what makes his chest looks more male than female, and made him sweat all the time, with discomfort and anxiety that someone will notice his femininity - and goes looking through his closet for something a bit more comfortable than his t-shirt.

He tugs a hoodie on, which is much more comfortable, and checks his phone, seeing a few useless notifications and a text from his dad, saying he has to work the night shift tonight, and turns the screen off, letting the phone gently drop to his mattress. Having nothing else to do, Stiles does what Stiles does best - he reads.

\-----

Isaac, on the other hand, was having an even more boring day, which was spent doing what Isaac does best - observing. Observing how Allison looked flustered at Scott’s disappearance, but pretended she wasn’t. Watched as Lydia comforted her with shoes and study sessions that would be filled with more of laughter than studying. Noticing how Stiles was nowhere to be found at lunch.

He wondered about Stiles. He could feel his breath on the back of his neck all through Chemistry. But he wondered just what Stiles would do this year without Scott, because, when Isaac thinks about it, Stiles doesn’t really have any friends except for Scott. Sure, he’s friends with Lydia and Allison, but only through Scott, not individually. He noticed the relieved sag of his shoulders when he saw Isaac that morning once he walked through the door in Chemistry. He notices his heartbeat speed up when anyone other than Scott gets too close to him. What does Stiles have to hide? Sure, he’s kind of crazy, but that’s about it.

But is it? Is that it? Or is there more to Stiles than he lets off? As Isaac thinks about all this in the bedroom across the hall from what should be Scott’s, he realizes that he should be finding out soon enough. After all, he is his lab partner in Chemistry. They’re bound to spend time with each other this year.

Isaac doesn’t mind that, though. Personally, he finds Stiles intriguing. The way he watches, and the way he never really tells you what he’s thinking. He’s the glue that keeps them together, he’s what moves things forward. And there’s always something about his jokes that you just can’t help but wonder how hurt he may be.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Study buddies Isaac and Stiles spend time after school to take notes and eat sweets!

Stiles was sitting behind Isaac in Chemistry, just like he had been for the past two school weeks. The teacher was droning on and on about atoms, Stiles taking notes all the while.

  * _number of atoms = element on periodic table_

  * _nucleus contains protons & neutrons_

  * _particles within atom bound together by powerful forces_




 

The bell rang then, signalling the end of class, _finally_. “Remember, you have a test two days from now on the atomic molecular structure! Your lab partner isn’t just your lab partner! Feel free to study with them, too!” the teacher yelled to the class, everyone only half listening.

_Feel free to study with them, too._ Stiles mentally repeated the teacher's words to himself.

Stiles hasn’t studied anything school related in who knows how long. As he’s gathering up his books to leave the classroom, Isaac stands up and turns around to face him.

“Study? Tonight? At Scott’s?” You could tell Isaac didn’t mean for his words to be broken up like that, but he simply found a way to improvise.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Stiles stammered, confused at his sudden cold feet.

Isaac nods, gathers up his books, and leaves the classroom before anyone can say anything more. The rest of the day goes by surprisingly quickly, with Stiles now sitting at the one empty lunch table in the cafeteria, rather than in the bathroom. As Stiles poked and prodded at his school bought mashed potatoes, he heard a chair slide against the floor, being pulled back to sit in. He looked up, and there was Isaac, sitting across from him at the empty circular lunch table. They made eye contact, which resulted in both of them looking back down quickly, and both of them poking at their own mashed potatoes.

“So, do you just want me to drive straight over there, once school ends?” Stiles asked Isaac, looking up after deciding he wasn’t going to make his food any more appetizing by squishing it.

“Um, yeah. Sure.”

Isaac wasn’t used to talking to people. I mean, sure, he talks, but he doesn’t really _talk_. So when Stiles pretty much volunteers to be lab partners with him, Isaac doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know much about Stiles, so it isn’t like they’ll have anything to talk about other than Chemistry. Which Isaac doesn’t understand too well, by the way. He’s hoping Stiles does, so he can at least help him get his grade up.

“How’s your Chemistry grade?” Isaac asks, hoping to spark some sort of conversation.

“Ah, it’s alright. Beginning of the year and all still, ya know. But I understand it pretty well.”

“That’s great, because I’m probably gonna suck at it.”

“I guess I’ll just help you, then.” Stiles meets Isaac’s eyes uncomfortably, and then looks down again. “I mean, I’m your lab partner and all, so I think that’s kind of part of what I’m here for.”

“Right, right. Have you heard from Scott?”

“No. I haven’t. It’s weird without him.”

The bell for lunch to end rang, and the rest of the day went by fairly quickly. Stiles was in his Jeep, driving to Scott’s house before he knew it. Once he pulled into the driveway, he got out of the car and pulled out the key he had made for the house, and unlocked and opened the front door, letting himself in. Isaac came to the front hallway area in no time, what with his supernatural hearing. As Stiles said a hello to Isaac, he couldn’t help but notice the flour on his hands.

“Is that - is that _flour_ on your hands?” Stiles asked Isaac, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Ah, yeah. I thought I wiped all that off. Melissa works later than usual on Wednesday nights, so I try to make something for her, since she’s letting me live here and all.” Isaac moves his arms around himself to motion to the whole house.

“Oh, well, that idea doesn’t sound half bad. What exactly are you making?”

“Fluffernutter cookies.”

Stiles’ eyes practically fell out of his head. He _loves_ fluffernutter cookies.

Before he could stop himself, Stiles is asking if he wants help.

The corners of Isaac’s lips turn up, but you can tell he keeps himself from smiling - Stiles can tell, that is. “Yeah, sure. Definitely.”

So Stiles and Isaac spent the next fifteen minutes making cookies. Stiles creamed the confectioner’s sugar, brown sugar, and butter, and then added vanilla extract and banana. Isaac held the bowl with Stiles’ concoction as Stiles beat in the flour, getting some of their cookie mixture on the front of Isaac’s black V-neck, which Stiles had to admit he looked pretty nice in. Stiles snorted when he saw how messy Isaac’s shirt had gotten.

“What?” Isaac asked, his head cocked to one side.

All Stiles had to do was nod at Isaac’s shirt, and Isaac looked down. He just shrugged, and reached to stir the cookie mixture some more, when he paused, a devilish grin spreading across his face.

“Oh, my god. That look does not mean anything good, dear Lord, Isaac.”

Isaac grabbed the whisk that was in the mixing bowl and lifted it up, future deliciousness dripping off of it. He flicked his wrist in a way to fling a bunch of the mixture onto Stiles’ Star Wars shirt, keeping his big ol’ grin on his face as he did so. Stiles, shocked, stood there for a minute before his own goofy grin infested his face. He dipped his fingers into the bowl and wiped them all over Isaac’s face, leaving him looking dumbfounded. For a couple of seconds, they simply stared at each other before they both burst into a fit of giggles.

“Okay, we have to get these cookies done, like, now, if we want to study, which, no, I don’t want to do, but I kind of have to,” Isaac said, between giggles, of course.

Stiles and Isaac spent the rest of their baking time actually baking. After about an hour and a half, they finally had their fluffernutter cookies for Melissa - and they ended up eating them all themselves.

“Oh my god, I love food,” Stiles said through his mouthful of cookie as he grabbed his backpack off of the floor.

Stiles rifled through his backpack for a bit before pulling out his Chemistry notebook, a couple papers from the bottom falling out as he did so. These papers were papers Stiles happened to want no one seeing. They were drawings, of himself. But not quite of him. They were drawings on what Stiles hoped he’d look like once he had gone through gender-transitioning surgery. It wasn’t a picture that could be considered naughty, though, as he was wearing boxer briefs.

Isaac caught the papers before Stiles could begin to grab them. Damn him and his supernatural abilities. “What are these?” Isaac asked him.

“Oh, those? Those, those those.. _Those_ are drawings. Drawings that I would kindly appreciate you give back to me.” Stiles stuck his hand out, waiting for Isaac to give him back his papers.

“Nice hair,” Isaac states, referring to one particular drawing. This man had beautiful, curly hair. When Stiles started looking at it, it actually looked a lot like Isaac.

“Yeah, I know, beautiful, now please just hand it over, Isaac.”

Isaac handed Stiles the papers, and Stiles shoved them to the bottom of his backpack, writing himself a mental note to _take those papers out as soon as he gets home_. Isaac looked at him with suspiciously thoughtful eyes before settling back into his seat on the living room couch.

“Okay, so, the atomic molecular structure. All matter consists of particles called atoms. Atoms cannot be divided using chemicals. They do consist of parts, which include protons, neutrons, and electrons, but an atom is a basic chemical building block of matter.”

Stiles basically just read through his notes, and Isaac listened and copied them down, since apparently he never wrote anything down. Isaac pokes his tongue out from the corner of his mouth and pulls his eyebrows together when he’s thinking, Stiles noticed. Eventually, though, Stiles just stared at his notebook, because he didn’t have anything to say because he’d read all his notes and didn’t know what to do. Feeling Isaac’s eyes on him, Stiles looked up to see Isaac studying his face. This made Stiles extremely nervous, he felt like at any moment Isaac would just scream, “You’re a girl!” at him.

“I, uh, I think I should probably go,” Stiles said, getting up from the couch and shoving his Chemistry notebook into his backpack.

“Right, I’ll, uh, walk you out.” Isaac got up and walked in front of Isaac to the front door. Stiles stood at the door knob, facing into the house, the door still shut.

“Well, ah, thanks for letting me come over. When do you want to study next?”

 

“Tomorrow?”

“Alright, tomorrow’s good. I’ll just see you tomorrow.”

Stiles’ breath had gotten all raggedy, because as Isaac and him were awkwardly making plans, Isaac had slowly walked up so they were almost touching. Stiles’ watch beeped, telling him it was 9:00. He thought about the time, and the number nine, and traced it over in his head as he tried to collect his thoughts, since he _just couldn’t think_ with Isaac this close to him. Isaac leaned his head, moving closer to Stiles, and just as their lips were about to meet, Stiles was being pushed into Isaac, causing Isaac to fall backwards onto the floor and Stiles land on top of him with an “oof”. Melissa was home.

“Oh, hey, Stiles. I wondered why the door was so heavy. Sorry ‘bout that. It smells good in here! Did you make cookies?”

Stiles got back onto his feet, willing to sink into the floor at any moment. “Um, yeah. But we, uh, we ate them all already,” Stiles told her, scratching the back of his neck.

Meanwhile, Isaac was bright red, partly for trying to kiss Stiles, and partly for getting so interested in what it might feel like to have their lips touch that he didn’t hear Melissa pull up, or smell her, at the very least.

“So, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Stiles said, heading out the door, and shutting it behind me, leaving Isaac sitting on his ass in the middle of the hallway.

 **  
**Looks like Isaac’s got notes to study.


End file.
